The present invention relates to a door lock mechanism for locking a door and a door lock unit including the door lock mechanism.
Various members in an automobile including an instrument panel are provided with a housing mechanism as a compartment and the like. As disclosed in Patent Document 1, such a housing mechanism has a box with an opening and a door attached to the box for opening and closing the opening (generally in an urged state with a spring in an open direction). A lock mechanism is provided on the door for maintaining a closed state of the door when the door closes the opening. The lock mechanism has, for example, a lock claw always urged in a direction toward a locked state, and a lock release operation piece for releasing the lock claw to a lock released state. When the opening is closed by the door, the lock claw engages a coupling part on the box. When the lock release operation piece is released, the lock claw is released from the coupling part on the box against a spring force, thereby opening the door.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 10-203250
In the lock mechanism described above, the force always applied on the lock claw to return to the locked state. Accordingly, after a lock release operation on the lock release operation piece, when the hand is removed from the lock release operation piece, in a case that the door opens relatively slower than the lock claw returns to the locked state (the door is disposed inclined toward a closed side in the closed state and a weight of the door acts as a closing force, or the door is pressed deeply toward the closed direction as the lock release operation), there may be a problem that the lock claw returns to the locked state and engages the coupling part on the box, so that the door may not open even trying to open.
In view of the problems described, the present invention has been made, and a first object is to provide, a door lock mechanism capable of assuredly opening a door through a lock release operation without lowering an original locking function.
A second object is to provide a lock unit including the lock mechanism.
Further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the invention.